~5K mile UOA on new VW "Common Rail" engine

[DrivinWest]

Tired of reading opinions rather than facts, I decided to take a sample from my new VW Jetta SportWagen just before it hit the 5K mile mark. I used some vinyl hose to pull the sample from the dipstick tube. Clearly I didn't pull enough as BlackStone was unable to test for fuel dilution. Oh well.

I'm using 1 quart of B100 and 5oz PowerService Diesel Kleen with every ~12 gallon fill up to achieve a ~B2 blend (give or take depending on when I can get to a station). Fuel is mostly Shell or Chevron. Car is stock.

Results:

I'm tempted to change the oil in the next few thousand miles rather than wait for the 10K mile normal service mark.

Thoughts?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: DrivinWest
Clearly I didn't pull enough as BlackStone was unable to test for fuel dilution. Oh well.

Blackstone guesstimates fuel dilution based on flash point, so it's probably not all that accurate anyway.

I think I'd go ahead and change the oil at this point.

 

[Brons2]

Pretty typical for CR TDI factory fill...

Personally, I'd change it, but lots of people don't do so until 10K and their engines don't grenade later on. So really it's up to you and your comfort level.

 

[dparm]

I've never been very impressed with the Castrol SLX oils (for VWs, at least).

 

[antiqueshell]

I'd wait and change at 7500 miles .

No reason to change this oil.

 

[DrivinWest]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I think I'd go ahead and change the oil at this point.


For those of you who would change it if it were yours, what's your reasoning? I'm probably going to wait until 7500 miles as I just can't get to it before then.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Mainly just for personal peace of mind. Not much science behind it, other than maybe removing some of the break-in metals. However, I doubt these extra break in metals are hurting anything. 7.5K miles would be fine, too.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: DrivinWest
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I think I'd go ahead and change the oil at this point.


For those of you who would change it if it were yours, what's your reasoning? I'm probably going to wait until 7500 miles as I just can't get to it before then.



Wear metals are very high and it has fallen out of grade.

 

[m6pwr]

DrivinWest: Your 5k uoa is practically identical to my TDI Sportwagen's first uoa at 10k mi. (iron 56 ppm, alu 20 ppm, copper 17 ppm). The factory fill is 5w30 not 5w40 so your vis is in grade. You can go 10k mi easy. Check in to the TDI forum: http://forums.tdiclub.com/. They have a sticky with over 170 pages of uoa's. Start from the end and work backwards for the uoa's of the CR TDI's. There was a thread on the TDI forum about a Sportwagen owner who visited the diesel engine factory in Germany and saw the TDI engines being run-in briefly on engine dynos. He was told the factory fill is a FUCHS oil (the "factory fill specialists") and contained some special adds for break-in, and he was told NOT to change the oil early. Sometimes it's not wise to second guess the factory.

The CR TDI's in Europe are equipped with oil life monitors and the factory oci is 18k mi (30k kilometers). If the TDI is used in commercial service, the factory oci is 30k mi (50k klm). Somewhere in that sticky I mentioned there's a TDI with over 120k mi (not klm) on it with an oil change done at 27k mi (not klm) and the uoa report ain't half bad. That would beggar belief here. For VW TDI's bound for the US, VW removes the olm and just tells the owners to change the oil at 10k mi.

I don't know why but all the TDI uoa's I've seen show relatively high wear metals at early mileages, particualry when compared to gas engines, but I don't think that's a concern. Tighter tolerances on diesels, maybe? Same for BMW diesels. They also run on a FUCHS factory fill.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: m6pwr
Check in to the TDI forum: http://forums.tdiclub.com/. They have a sticky with over 170 pages of uoa's.

Looks like the OP has already posted his UOA there yesterday.

 

[DrivinWest]

Originally Posted By: m6pwr
DrivinWest: Your 5k uoa is practically identical to my TDI Sportwagen's first uoa at 10k mi....

Awesome input - thanks!